01 April 2009

Today was another fun day. The other day we got a package from Amazon.com. I ordered a Twilight DVD for my wife and to meet the free shipping requirements I ordered the Foundry Miniatures Painting & Modelling Guide. So far I've had time to flip through the book and have a look at all the eye candy. It's pretty decent. Foundry selles the book from their website for $52, but you can get it on Amazon for $26.37. You can also get The Rules With No Name (TRWNN) at a fair discount on Amazon, but I haven't done that yet. You can also find plenty of basic document files with most of the TRWNN text online, as it was a free rule set for many years before Foundry added pretty pictures, a cover, and maybe a few extra rules to it. I'll have to find something else to buy for the wife so I can throw that in on the next order. Kevin Dallimore also has some nice downloads and eye candy on his website. I recommend the Building and Painting Vehicles PDF.

I went to Hobbytown today and had a close encounter of the nerd kind. I finally broke down and decided to pick up a box of close combat Terminators for my Space Marines. They're the guys with Lightning Claws and Thunder Hammers/Storm Shields. As I was browsing a guy came in with an army case and engaged in conversation with one of the shop employees about the Ork figures he had brought in. I noticed that he kept looking over at my purchases. It was a bit odd, but nerds tend to be odd. As I walked up to the front of the store he ran over, looked at my stuff, and then ran back to the table where he was fiddling with his models.

Just before the cashier rang up my purchases he ran over again and said, "Terminators, huh? So you play a lot of Space Marines?" I replied that I mostly purchased and painted figures rather than playing. He then asked me to wait on buying the Terminators until he presented a proposition to me. He actually piced up the box of Terminators and moved it away from the rest of the stuff on the counter. I agreed to hear him out. "I'll go half and half with you on an Assault on Black Reach set; you keep the Space Marines and I'll take the Orks."

I told him that I've already purchased quite a few AoBR sets and have more Storm Bolter/Power Fist Terminators than I know what to do with. He looked disappointed and told me that everyone told him that.

After opening the box of close combat Terminators I maybe should have taken him up on his offer. I could use a Dreadnought and the Terminator box comes with two sets of arms. I took one of the AoBR Terminator torsos and matched it up to the Lightning Claw arms and they look like they'll go together. Perhaps if I run into him again I will take him up on the offer, as it's a cheap way to get a second squad of Terminators at relatively little cost.

And maybe I'll even paint an army and play a game someday.

Supposedly the seller of the house accepted our offer, so now we just have to get through the inspection, the VA appraisal, and the closing junk. So in theory we could be purchasing a home at some point in the next little while. I greatly dislike the paperwork and back-and-forth that goes into buying high-dollar items like houses and cars, basically anything that involves a contract. Oh well, at least we have a decent real estate agent. I imagine it would be a lot more frustrating if we had a sleazy person who cared more about getting a big commission than selling us a house we felt good about.

I switched the motorcycle and the truck around in the driveway, so hopefully the weather is dry tomorrow. I took the bike around the block today. It was kind of fun. I've been window-shopping for bikes and I've come to the conclusion that if I were going to buy another bike it would just be an updated version of the same bike I already have. I don't need a bike but I like looking at them. My wife doesn't understande why I look at bikes and trucks when I already have a bike and a truck. There have been a lot more bikes on the road the last couple of weeks. I've also been looking at little 50cc dirtbikes for when Ben gets a little bigger. The dealers aren't allowed to sell them right now because of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, which I guess prohibits the sale of toys that may lead to children ingesting lead. I'd imagine that kids don't often put motorcycles in their mouths, but I could be wrong. There are a couple of websites that allow you to send messages to your congresspeople requesting that motorcycles be excluded from the Act, but my websearch skills are failing me at the moment. Anyhow, plenty of 50cc bikes are up on Craigslist, even ones with training wheels. And if Ben gets a dirtbike his dad will probably need one so they can ride together. Yeah, that's the ticket.

I think that's all I've got at the moment. It would sure be nice to get a few miniatures painted, but I don't seem to find the time for painting much. My hobbies are still largely theoretical, it seems.

No comments:

Post a Comment